Lake Norman Real Estate’s Friday Hot Sheet 3/20/09

Above is a chart with today’s “Hot Sheet” numbers from the Charlotte Multiple Listing Services for single family homes in Lake Norman (Area 13). These numbers represent a snapshot of the past TWO WEEKS of activity. As always, I have provided the Hot Sheets for the prior 5 months to enable you to put these numbers into context.

Here are some highlights:

New Listings remained about the same as last month but are very high if you consider that only 19 properties closed during this same time period. If we add these 132 new listings with the 46 listings that came back on the market we have a total of 178 new active listings compared to only 76 properties going under contract or sold. With a net gain of over 100 new listings added to our already overstocked conditions we are not seeing any improvement in our numbers.

The number of homes coming back on the market increased slightly. This indicates we still have volatility in our Lake Norman market and that contracts are falling apart more frequently than they are closing.

The number of price changes took a significant jump in the past several weeks. Sellers are becoming more convinced that prices around Lake Norman have dropped and that it is necessary to lower their asking prices in order to keep up with the downward trend in sales prices.

The number of pending sales increased. This is the best indication of future close sales. While they remain low, at least they are trending higher!

The number of closed sales dropped when compared to the same two weeks in February. It looks like March may be the second lowest month in the number of closed sales that Lake Norman has had in the past years. Will we get the spring bounce everyone is hoping for?

Finally, the contingent and conditional sales increased what is a hopeful sign. Since these represent the most recent activity, this may be an indication of increased closed sales in April.

As I said last month, the good news is that home buyers are out looking in Lake Norman in increased numbers. As one agent told me when I asked how his buyers liked one of my listings: “My buyers are like a deer in the headlights. They are afraid to make a move until they feel more confident in the economy.”

With interest rates dipping back into the 4.75% range again after the Federal Reserve report this past week I am hopeful many of the buyers who are sitting on the fence might be encouraged to move forward with a purchase!